DENNIS JOSEPH WEEKLY: What is the State of the Republic and didn’t I say that before?

Dennis Joseph

On  a visit to London , I boarded a bus, one of the double floored  red beauties that colour the London traffic and  charms you into stratospheric delusions when you sit on the top floor. But I was soon brought down to earth in a hurry without a parachute.  The bus signs clearly indicated its route so I sat back expecting to get to my destination with a lot of time to spare, right? Wrong!   I jumped in on a promise but  along the way the driver announced that he had been instructed to make the next stop his last stop and so everybody jump out.   I was in the middle of nowhere being a visitor and in the dark of night had to find an expensive taxi to bail my way out.   This is something like what happens to we the people when the promises of politicians suddenly meltdown and we are on our own in the dark feeling our way.

Waitikubuli called Dominica by Columbus, is an established democratic republic a little matter that is almost never noticed, that is why we end up with a President rather than a Governor General.   It takes finance ministers more than an hour  and sometimes more than two , goblets of water  and a  ton of  “Madame Speaker, yes Madame Speaker “ to report on the state of the Republic on Budget Day and at the end of it the main thing we the people are interested in knowing is whether there are any new taxes.  No new ones? OK, let God deal with the rest and then usually find a section of the Bible that agrees with their attitude.

In my view the state of this Republic is reflected in the quality and quantity of its human resource base.  If mediocrity is in the seed, mediocrity is in the lead which means disorder eventually triumphs.   How high is the sky? Well a society that cultivates individual achievement raises its sky level significantly. For this reason I agree with the PM’s publicly stated goal of a graduate in every home, however, to get these individuals to come home and stay home is the challenge of governance.

A cursory analysis does show that it is the more educated that are leaving and the common thought coming from them is that the promise of the political directors has soured and  offers little to learned folk. What happens when they return?  They are mostly sent back to the same old desk they thought they had left behind under a head or a boss who may suffer from a serious complex of personal under-achievement.  Then frustration shows up blighting their productive capacity and enthusiasm.   It does not end there, because many of them cannot find a job and  so join the skilled workers  taking a trot out of here  without even waiting to put on their sneakers. Our musicians, artists, and entertainers seek answers elsewhere and only doctors and lawyers find  it a fruitful ground just healing and suing and even running away after ripping-off the rest of us.  There are those who wish to start their own businesses and find the political mountain too high to climb and just give up and head for our commuter airport at Melville Hall hoping LIAT will show up on time.

While more hotels can bring in jobs for the waiters and cleaners, there will be very few for those who have spent their parent’s money as well as their sparse little, to get themselves equipped for nation building outside the legal and medical professions. So in this overflow of bleakness striving to place a graduate in every home will only be adding to this general spill of our human resource into other markets..

So in addition to loud Independence speeches we should get to work solving problems.  We can reshape our civil service for a start.  A credible task force should be set up to immediately look into ways and means of causing this huge pool of talent to be more productive.   A lean, mean working machine that with quality inclusions could enhance our movement to a more enlightened working force and  would reshape the quality of advice and the substance of decision making.  But truthfully there are civil servants who could do more but do not.  There are others who have been given political appointments and just feel ‘nobody can touch me” because they “love their PM” and he loves them back.  One thing is certain if we continue the way we are  without paying much attention to our human resource and our capacity to produce and just feel comfortable  thinking we can exist only on donor  handouts we have an alarm clock set to blast off soon and the wake up call will be too loud for us to bear.  But I have said that before haven’t I?

I have been gratified by your responses whether for or vigorously against and in particular the positive words to me personally on the effort to use vocals for those who are visually challenged.  This column is my last in this series and I hope again to engage your thoughts and very penetrating comments on matters sensitive to us all  in a new series in January   Meditate this Independence season and have a good one.

Listen to audio version of column below.

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10 Comments

  1. Cesare Bonventre
    November 26, 2012

    What I think I hear you saying is that you would be pleased to see an efficient Dominica?

    One thing I know as fact: Bureaucrats, governments, have never been the solution in history to any of mans problems

    In fact, all good works in history have always been done in opposition to bureaucrats.

    Things for mankind will never ever improve in any way until he decides to handle things himself.

    Signatures, singing in circles, marching, occupy movements, never have and never will work.

    The solution lies among individuals and their local community to get things accomplished.

    Now having said that, whom within the communities is likely to take initiative or go along with self empowerment?

    I have pondered the idea at great length; and surveyed many.

    My discovery is that young men in Boy Scouts are an energetic and highly motivated group that can inspire other locals.

    Moreover, in many villages I discovered many older men who were very eager, and full of many solutions – And merely needed an organizer to make it all happen!

    So there you have it!

    Get the boy scouts marching around doing civic projects – And reward them with various accolades.

    Then chat with locals at the village and give them what they need to get the job down!

    Done Deal!

  2. Jackie Brown
    November 2, 2012

    You did not have to pay a taxi to take you to your destination all you had to do was to ask the driver how long would it be before the next bus comes.

  3. yes
    November 2, 2012

    Dennis Dominica needs an international airport, what are your views? LIAT is trying and cannot do it alone. What we have hinders the airlines from operating efficiently in Dominica.

  4. james
    November 1, 2012

    Hi smart man,stay at that stop another bus same no. would take you to your destination.

    • commentator
      November 1, 2012

      not if it is the last bus!!!! you missed the point. It was anecdotal.

  5. Observer
    November 1, 2012

    Two hours after reading this peice, I returned to the DNO page and was rather surprised that like me, not one literary soul stopped to express an opinion. I suppose that Denis was not as hard hitting on Skerrit as he is wont to do and everyweek so did not earn the ire of people like me who according to him “feed at the trough of Skerrit”. Interstingly too, not even his erstwhile supporters (and they are many)commented on the piece. Were they disappointed?

    If I were to comment, I thought the topic was timely given our pre-occupation with the independence anniversary celebrations. The Pm will deliver his own state of the Republic address on November 3rd. The material just did not deliver – was not enough. Denis spoke about education and we all agree that in the absence of a solidly educated human resource base then our development would go nowhere.

    I would have though that as a commentary on the “state of the Republic” someone as intelligent as Denis would have taken us down the road to look at the state of our relations with each other, the stae of the media in this partisan charged atmosphere, the state of our politicians to include the work of the opposition, the state of agriculture, industry, tourism, yes the church, law enforcement, disaster management etc. Of course space would be a premium. I was diasppointed inthis regard.

    As a parting note though. Two months is a long time for a sabbathical or hiatus of sorts in this fast changing society. I will miss the weekly blog and look forward to Denis’ return next year. I am looking with earnest expectation for his book on the events of May 29 1979 as seen through his eyes. Remember he was the “man with the master Plan” under Patrick John. It should make good reading.

  6. November 1, 2012

    Reality made simple. Great work Dennis. I have only one objectionto your editorial thst is the bumb has already detonated we just need to peel back the covers to see the destruction within. Those in control are the only ones left and so they have ways and means of distorting and suppressing the chaos within the covers that they alone have access too. Anyone who try to expose the destruction beneath the covers are dubbed enemies of the state.
    This is why they claim Dominica is not ready for debate. That is why they give returnees lime squash , bakes and smoke herring lies and not stay for questioning and interaction.
    They talk about education revolution but yet

  7. Wotten Waven
    November 1, 2012

    why don’t people comment on such impotant articles like this one.is it to high for our intellectual. GOOD PIECE OF WRITING, well put together, very sound and deepp

  8. Marigotian
    November 1, 2012

    Thank you Sir. Keep up the good works..

  9. Doc.love
    November 1, 2012

    You should have ended your last piece with the following,”I am Dennis Joseph the man with the master plan and I approve this message”.

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